The Dragon Prince Rewatch 3.9, "The Final Battle"

Read the previous entry here.
Will there be another entry in this series?

It's no joke; the rewatch has caught up with the series at last.

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3.9, "The Final Battle"

Written by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Maybe they'll work better as tattoos...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Callum marks himself with the characters for the spell Ibis uses to give himself wings, preparing to attempt the magic in advance of the coming battle. The attempt fails, and Rayla offers some gentle mockery before the two consider their situation and likely deaths. Soren interrupts to summon them to council, apologizing for his prior misdeeds towards Callum.

Viren's army passes the petrified remains of Avizandum, and Viren praises Claudia for her loyalty and her prowess. Aaravos offers to teach Viren how to drain Zym's power and enhance himself.

The council in the Stormspire progresses, with plan of battle laid out. Zym sorrows amid it, however, and Bait attempts to comfort him. Rayla offers to guard the two and is hailed as the last Dragonguard.

Not a face to see in a back alley...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Viren's army advances, approaching the Stormspire and its arrayed defenders in power and terror. The empowered Kasif rages forward without orders, followed swiftly by the rest of the army, and battle is joined. The use of magic by Claudia and Viren is a factor that further unbalances an already asymmetrical conflict; the arrival of a flight of dragons seems to even out matters initially, but the seeming soon reveals itself as such, as the dragons' fire strengthens the invading army.

Was this the plan all along?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Battle continues, with the dragons coming under restraining fire. Several are brought down.

Within the Stormspire, Rayla accompanies Zym as the titular dragon prince calls upon his mother at last. Despite his clear entreaty, she does not respond, but continues to slumber deeply.

The invading army breaks through the first defensive line. Callum deploys his own magic to interdict the advance, meeting only limited success. He is saved by the arrival of other human forces, led Aanya of Duren; the onslaught helps to balance the conflict, and the newly reinforced defenders make progress against their attackers, finding victory on the field. Ezran calls for tending to the enemy wounded amid freeing the restrained dragons, though there is some resistance to the idea. Viren's absence is noted and the search for him begins.

Pursuing Claudia, Ezran encounters Viren; Soren defends Ezran, confirming that he has turned against his father utterly. It is also revealed that the Viren present is not the real one; the actual Viren is elsewhere, pursuing Zym, whom Rayla and Bait defend in vain. Zym flees but is taken at the pinnacle of the Stormspire despite the attempt to fly away, and Viren begins to drain power from him through Aaravos's ritual. Rayla again attempts to interdict Viren, pitching them both from the pinnacle. Callum leaps to her salvation, finally enacting the spell Ibis used, and saving her; they affirm their love.

A promise of more to come.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

After, the victorious forces confer, with amity among them in the offering as Ezran is recognized again as king. Zym's mother awakens, and the gathered forces present themselves to her as one. And Viren awakens, Claudia having restored his body and life at great cost to herself; Aaravos, however, is absent from him, having metamorphosed into a form that foretells something else...

Discussion

From the episode, in comparison to the films,
used for commentary...

It is clear that the battle scenes borrow from Jackson's Middle-earth films and their depictions of such battles as at Gorgoroth, of the Five Armies, at Helm's Deep, and at the Pelennor. That is not to be wondered at, given the outsize influence of the movies and their antecedent texts on popular culture, generally, and on the presumed secondary audience of the series--the parents of the children who would watch it, including me--more specifically. Such evocation does not make the episode particularly authentically medieval, but it does make it medievalist in the way Sturtevant describes as supplanting or replacing the medieval in common conception. That there are problems of coding in the episode--note the association of animalistic rage with dark-skinned characters on both sides of the conflict--is perhaps one with that, as might be inferred from applying Niels Werber across the similarity between works and looking at the long and amply attested association of medievalist work and racist impetus. Even without overtly racist intent, after all, a thing can reinforce racism, and appropriation by execrable ideologues happens, as is all too abundantly clear.

At a minimum, it is a fraught issue. But I think more than the minimum much of the time.

It should be noted that, while it is clear from the episode there is more story to tell, and press releases have noted that more of the series is to come, there is not more of it as of this writing. If and when more emerges--because renewals, even when announced, are not guaranteed--I will resume the re/watch; until then, though, I will turn to other projects after a bit of a break. I'll have new material on 15 April 2021; I hope you'll return to read it!